IFA 2017: 5 noteworthy new product launches

Europe’s largest tech show IFA 2017 is underway and like every year, it’s the ideal place to see the latest wares from all the global tech giants. Here are a few products that were unveiledHitesh Raj Bhagat | ET Bureau | September 02, 2017, 10:38 IST

Europe’s largest tech show IFA 2017 is underway and like every year, it’s the ideal place to see the latest wares from all the global tech giants. Here are a few products that were unveiled:

From Fitbit, a company normally known for fitness bands, comes a brand new smartwatch called the Ionic. It's still not powered by Android Wear instead, it has Fitbit OS.

The reason we say smartwatch is because it supports third-party apps. It still does all the usual fitness features, has Bluetooth, GPS, WiFi, multiple watch faces and promises 4 days of battery life. The Ionic claims to have a different, more accurate way of measuring heartbeat.

Instead of the usual optical sensor + green LEDs, this uses a combination of red, green and infrared LEDs.

You can also use it for swim workouts and it shows notifications from your phone.

This is LG's latest flagship and it incorporates learnings from the current LG G6 and the V20. Gone is the gimmicky second screen, replaced with a 6-inch FullVision OLED display.

FullVision is the name LG gives to the ultra slim bezel design, one of the defining characteristics of its new flagships. Despite the large screen, it's about the size of a 5.5-inch phone.

Like the G6, it has a dual camera system with one ultra wide angle lens that helps capture interesting perspectives. There's also IP68 certification and for those who think that new phones are getting too delicate, military standard durability rating (MIL-STD 810G).

This latest update to the Acer Switch series has a couple of firsts: it's the first two-in-one hybrid Windows laptop with a fanless design and the first with a new kind of kickstand that can automatically deploy and auto retract once you're done.

Despite having no fan (and hence no noise, just like tablets), the Switch 7 includes a discrete graphics chip for better gaming performance. To prevent overheating, it uses liquid cooling technology ­ impressive, considering the 1.13kg weight. It has a 13.5-inch touchscreen (2256 x 1504 pixels) and will be powered by Intel's latest 8th generation Core-I processors. Prices should start at $1699.

The market is soon going to be flooded with smart speakers ­ and this Sony is one of them. Like Google Home, Sony's LF-S50G is powered by Google Assistant.

It's designed to sit unobtrusively on your desk or side table, play music (it has Bluetooth and NFC), tell the time, control smart home products, perform Google searches, check your calendar, tell the weather and all the usual things you'd expect. And if you're playing your music through it, you can also use gesture control (just wave your hand in the air above the speaker) to control playback. Price has been set at $199 and it starts shipping in October.

Sony offers a range of compact cameras with large, 1-inch CMOS sensors (RX100 series). They've taken the same imaging components and squeezed them into a rugged, waterproof shell that's roughly the size of a typical action camera.

Sony is essentially bringing high quality imaging to a more versatile size. Other features include the ability to link multiple RX0 cameras together for creative techniques like bullet time. Price is set at $700 each and it will be available to purchase from October onwards.